iPhone 8, 8 Plus Review: Nearly perfect but not the future

iPhone 8 doesn't represent the new path that Apple is taking with the iPhone. For that, you'll have to wait for the iPhone XHitesh Raj Bhagat | ET Bureau | September 28, 2017, 09:59 IST

A Little New, A Little Old

We're used to the tick-tock strategy with iPhone now: minor upgrades one year, then a refresh the next.

This year, instead of seeing the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus, Apple jumped one place to launch these. There are three new colours and they look a tad different thanks to the glass backs. They're not as slippery to hold but a tad heavier than before.

Our review is based on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus -the X will come later. Both phones have very similar hardware. However, seeing that they look so similar to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, we feel that it's prudent to sum up everything new: faster performance, better screen, brilliant new cameras and wireless charging.

The Biggest Gripes

At a time where smartphone design is really reaching its pinnacle, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus look old. Not to say that quality or attention to detail is missing -but unless you see the glass back, most people will not be able to tell the difference between the 7/7Plus and 8/8Plus.

And it's hard to look past the fact that this is the fourth year in a row where the basic design remains the same -starting from the iPhone 6 that launched in 2014.

iPhone 8 or 8 Plus?

Like before, there are two sizes. Screen sizes, screen resolution are the same as the 7 and 7 Plus. Buttons and cutouts are in the same place and dimensions are roughly the same -just 0.2 millimeters extra on the new phones - which means most cases should fit fine.

The decision between the two comes down to whether you need the bigger screen, better battery life and dual camera (with portrait mode, portrait lighting) that the Plus version offers. For each storage size, you pay Rs 9,000 more for the Plus.

The fastest smartphones ever

If you're interested in speed and fluidity of interface, read on. The new A11 Bionic chip is built using a 10 nanometer process. It's a six core processor with two performance and four efficiency cores -all cores can be pushed into action simultaneously. Both phones also have an Apple design tri-core GPU.

In our testing so far, the A11 handily outperforms last year's A10. AnTuTu benchmark scores it at 2,10,120 - just a little short of the iPad Pro 10.5. There are various other cross-platform benchmarks but to cut a long story short, not only does this kind of score put them ahead of all other phones, it puts them ahead of many powerful laptops as well.

The obvious caveat is that a battery powered iPhone, with no fans and limited heat sinks, is designed to push the performance envelope in short bursts while a laptop is designed to perform consistently over a long duration.

That being said, app installs, switching between apps, heavy apps games will be amazing on either of these two iPhones. Now why would you need all this power? The iPhone 7 is plenty fast too, right? Simple: there's room to grow.Developers have a lot of leeway to design new experiences, including AR/VR and those that can work on larger screens.

Improvements but under the hood

Apart from performance gains, two upgrades go unnoticed: screen and camera. The screens are still LCD (same size & resolution) but colour/contrast is much better and they have True Tone. A sensor reads ambient colour temperature and adjusts the screen accordingly.

For camera, hardware is unchanged — it’s the software enhancements & processing power gains that result in a noticeable difference. Both phones are much better with low light photos, have faster autofocus & lower noise across the board.

On 8 Plus, you’ll see improvements in the Portrait mode plus Portrait Lighting effects. You can change lighting (natural, studio, contour, stage, stage mono) while capturing or later, with editing. These two phones are the only ones that can shoot 4k video at 60fps. They are also capable of recording 240fps slow motion video at 1080p full HD.

For a battery powered device that is less than 7.5mm thick, that’s a fantastic achievement. At the time of writing, DxOMark has awarded the iPhone 8 Plus the highest ever rating for smartphone cameras (94) with the iPhone 8 following closely behind at 92.

Wireless charging and Wireless charging accessories

At the launch event, Apple showcased AirPower -their take on wireless charging. This can simultaneously charge an iPhone 88PlusX, Apple Watch and AirPods (with the special wireless charging case, which will be an additional purchase).

AirPower will only be available to purchase sometime next year and the price has not been revealed. As for conventional Qi chargers, Mophie & Belkin will be sold in Apple stores but there also other brands like Samsung, Nillkin and Anker, all of which work well.

Why not just wait for iPhone X?

The tenth anniversary of the iPhone needed something special. And that special device is the iPhone X (Ten). Logically, the 8/8Plus can be seen as upgrades to previous phones but the X is an all-new device with an edge-to-edge OLED screen.

The common refrain you’ll read in articles about the new iPhone is that Apple launched the 8/8 Plus and proceeded to make it obsolete 10 minutes later by announcing the X. It’s true that some people will hold off on their purchases, at least to see what the X looks like in person.

However, the X is also a lot more expensive, especially in India. The 64GB version is Rs 89,000 while the 256GB version is an eyewatering Rs 1,02,000! Also keep in mind that the X does not have Touch ID and there may be limited availability, at least for the first couple of months.

If you already have an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus or need the best iPhone that Apple makes, wait for the X. If not, the 8 and 8 Plus are still very big upgrades coming from anything else — even the 6s/6s Plus.